COLTON, Calif. -- Dean Jackson is in charge of making sure sick and injured employees of Stater Bros. Markets here get all the tender loving care -- and medical benefits -- they need.
But she's not the company's nurse -- she's vice president, insurance administration.
According to Jackson, she's been instrumental in cutting the company's general liability claims costs by more than $1 million a year by doing more follow-up work in-house and in reducing the company's salaried benefits costs by 40% a year by switching from a self-administered benefits plan to a third-party administrator.
Jackson, 55, has been with Stater Bros. for 26 years, starting as a temporary worker and moving through various positions before being named a vice president last July.
In the area of general liability, Jackson said she has been able to lower Stater's costs by approximately $1 million a year over the past 10 years by having chain personnel make follow-up calls to customers involved in store accidents rather than letting third-party administrators make the first call.
"In the past, accident claims were sent automatically to a third party for handling, at a cost per claim of approximately $300," Jackson said. "So anytime the third-party administrator called a customer -- even if the customer said there were no problems -- it cost us $300, or more if follow-ups were needed.
"So I thought, why not make our own calls? For awhile I made the calls myself because we didn't have a staff, but now staff members make the calls, and if they find there's no problem, then there's no cost to us, other than the cost of the gift certificates we give to some customers. But there's no third-party cost."
In the fiscal year ended in September, Stater processed 2,300 incident reports in-house, or 76% of the total, Jackson said -- a percentage that has been growing each year, she added.
Another area of savings Jackson introduced at Stater involves medical claims -- including insured short-term disability -- by full-time salaried employees, she pointed out.
While various union trusts handle medical claims for the company's 13,000 union employees, Jackson oversees claims for Stater's 760 salaried employees, including management executives and clerical staff.
Prior to September, salaried employees had the option of buying a long-term insurance policy under which the company paid for the first 30 days of disability at full salary, then paid at 60% through Day 90, after which the insurance policy -- if the employee had one -- kicked in at 60%, Jackson explained.
However, Stater now automatically provides all full-time salaried employees with short-term insurance coverage, with the company paying for the first seven days of disability at 100%, after which the insurance company pays for 60% of the salary and Stater for 40% through Day 30, "at which point most people are back to work," Jackson said; for those who are not, the policy provides for the insurance company to continue paying 60% of the salary up to Day 180, while Stater's payments end.
In addition, since Stater contracted with a third-party administrator, "we found we're saving more than 40% per year on the cost of services for doctors and hospitals because we get preferred contract rates," Jackson said.
For the past 10 years Stater has utilized a temporary, modified work program for industrial injuries under which injured workers can get back on the job sooner, she pointed out. "We send the person to an industrial clinic and let the doctors determine if he can come back to work right away or if he needs time off," she explained. "If the person has physical limitations, we try to find work for him that modifies what he normally does."
Although the temporary program was put in place for industrial injuries, which are more likely to occur among employees outside the office environment, salaried employees are also prone to on-the-job injuries, Jackson said, citing the example of an individual in her department who incurred an injury from the repetitive motion required in her job.
That employee was able to come back to work sooner when her job routine was temporarily modified, Jackson explained, and her workstation has been subsequently rearranged to prevent recurrence of the injury, she added.
Jackson reports to Gayle Paden, group senior vice president, administration, who told SN, "Dean is a leader of people who's very capable, and her job gives her the potential to make a difference on the bottom line, and that's what she's doing."
In the 15 years he's known Jackson, "she's always done an excellent job through her own desire and ability, and now she has a position with tremendous responsibility," Paden said. "Through her efforts, Stater is outsourcing health benefits for salaried employees, and that's saving us a bunch of money."
Jackson said what she likes about her job is that it gives her a chance to help people when they become sick, injured or otherwise in need of assistance.
She also told SN she believes she leads by example. "I'm a pretty positive, outgoing person, and I try to keep the people who work around me motivated to do a good job by being a good employee myself and carrying myself in a way that sets a good example," she explained.
"This is a good company to work for because there are always opportunities for advancement. The company is good about promoting from within. Hard work pays off, and you can move ahead if you pay your dues."
Jackson joined Stater in 1975 on a temporary basis to work in the billing department and was hired two months later on a permanent basis. She subsequently became the company's receptionist, then a secretary in the company's retail operations office, where one of her responsibilities was handling the customer service line -- a job that helped her later when she began handling injury claims, she said.
She accepted a promotion to claims manager in 1987 even though the job was somewhat overwhelming, Jackson told SN, "because I was afraid of making a mistake and costing the company money."
So she started taking insurance classes and got help from the company's insurance brokers, she noted. Jackson held her job for 14 years, at which point she was named vice president, insurance administration.
AT A GLANCE
Dean Jackson
VP, insurance administration, Stater Bros.
Age: 55
Supervisor: Gayle Paden, group senior vice president, administration
Years with company: 26
General Interests:
Golf ("I'm fanatical about it."); painting with oils; cooking.
Latest Book Read:
"Watermelon Magic" by Wally "Famous" Amos -- "a self-help book that talks about planting a seed for success and then nurturing it."
Most Admired Person:
Jack Brown, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Stater Bros., "because he's kept Stater Bros. alive, competing against a variety of major chains. This company wouldn't be what it is without him. And also because he served as a really good role model for my daughter during the 10 years she worked here for the kind of person she wanted to be when she got into the business world."
Most Challenging Part Of The Job:
"Getting people to understand what it costs to compensate injured workers and the need for safety to prevent injury."
